


For All The Joy That Is To Come

by milesofworry



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Dorks in Love, M/M, Mutual Pining, late night/early morning confessions
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-20
Updated: 2017-10-20
Packaged: 2019-01-20 03:57:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,128
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12424551
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/milesofworry/pseuds/milesofworry
Summary: “And you looked at me with one of those rare smiles and I almost stopped breathing because that was when I realized that I had the world’s biggest crush on you. There were so many times I almost told you Tsukki, but I couldn't find the right time. But now’s better than never I guess.”





	For All The Joy That Is To Come

Tsukishima Kei. His birthday was September 27 and he was 6’2”. The people that were close to him knew where his love of dinosaurs came from. His older brother, Akiteru, always got him strawberry shortcake for his birthday. He had blonde hair and golden eyes which were slightly hidden behind black framed glasses.

But Tsukishima Kei was not one of the easiest people to be friends with. He was definitely not the easiest person to get along with. He was not the easiest person to sit next to on a long bus ride to another school and make small talk with.

Even though Tsukishima was like that, even though his words were mean and he made it seem like he was indifferent to everything around him, Yamaguchi Tadashi would never try to find a new best friend.

They had met when they were younger. Yamaguchi would admit, that that point in time was one of the roughest times in his life because of the bullying that he went through. But if it hadn’t happened, maybe he wouldn't of become friends with Tsukishima.

Tsukishima had been the one that stood up for him when the other students wouldn’t and when Tadashi couldn't do it for himself..

They had grown close fast, spending the night at each other's houses, playing volleyball and multiple video games. Sometimes they just sat up and talked about things that they wanted to do in their lives. They did everything together. Yamaguchi knew that he would find no other friend that he would connect to like he did with Tsukishima.

Yamaguchi knew that he would never find another person who would always tell him the blunt truth even though Tsukishima’s words were slightly mean when he would reveal his opinion on the topic. Tsukishima did like to tease people, poke fun at slight hiccups that happened to the other team members, but everyone knew he didn't seriously mean them. Or they believed that he didn't mean the comments that he made.

He knew Tsukishima like the back of his hand. He recognized the moment that Tsukishima realized he needed, wanted, to work better, to be better as a player on the volleyball team. Yamaguchi knew that Tsukishima just needed a little push, so that's what he gave him that night on the second day of the training camp.

When he saw Tsukishima’s eyes linger on someone, interest there for a moment in those golden eyes, he followed that gaze to land on none other than the captain of Karasuno’s rival team: Kuroo Tetsuro. And to Yamaguchi’s surprise, the captain’s eyes were focused on none other than Karasuno’s main middle blocker.

Because of that, Yamaguchi decided to “sit in” on one of their late night practices.

To anyone else that might of come in to watch the four that were practicing after the normal hours, it would of seemed like it was just a normal practice, even though rival teams were giving each other tips.

To Yamaguchi, it was a very rare sight to be able to see. Tsukishima took in all of the information that Kuroo was giving him, barely putting up a fight, and by barely, Yamaguchi meant that Tsukishima made his usual mean comments. But Kuroo took them all in stride, not even bothered by them at all.

He watched his friend interact with the captain from Nekoma, watched as they worked together, as Kuroo made comments about the way that Tsukki blocked. It was strange, seeing Tsukishima with someone other than him.

And it wasn't because he was jealous. No. Tsukishima was his best friend, and if he made more friends, then he would be more happy for him than jealous. He would congratulate him on finding someone that wasn't put off by the way that Tsukishima used his words.

He would do that, just not out loud.

But he couldn't help being curious as to why, out of everyone that surrounded Tsukishima, the captain with the crazy hair was able to keep Tsukki talking.  

“Can I ask you a question?” Yamaguchi finally asked one afternoon at Tsukishima’s house after a long day at school and practice.

“Is that your question?” Tsukishima answered without looking up from his notes that he had been trying organize since the pair got to his house.

Yamaguchi laughed under his breath and then asked what he had been wanting to ask his best friend:

“Why Kuroo?”

At this Tsukishima did look up, his golden eyes widened for a second, and then went back to his normal expression.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, he spends so much time with you whenever we have a joint practice-”

“Because he’s trying to teach me how to be a better blocker,” Tsukishima interrupted him, but Yamaguchi didn't stop.

“And he says things that you would never tolerate if it was someone else who said it to you. Like how he calls you Tsukki. I mean, we both know me and your brother are the only ones that you tolerate calling you that, so I just want to know why he’s allowed to call you that.”

At this, Tsukishima’s eyes narrowed and he glared at Yamaguchi.

“Don't you want me to have more than one friend Yamaguchi?” Tsukishima asked him, his tone light and Yamaguchi let out a choked noise.

“No no, it’s not like that, not like that at all!” he exclaimed, shaking his head, his hands up. “I meant that there’s something different about the way that you treat Kuroo than you treat Kageyama.  I mean. It’s not a bad thing. I just wanted to know why.”

Tsukishima nodded. But then didn’t immediately reply after Yamaguchi finished his whole babble. Yamaguchi took that as a good sign and waited for his best friend to finish his thought.

And it seemed that it would take a few minutes for Tsukishima to come up with a good answer. His head was bowed down, his hands covering his mouth, his eyes closed. Yamaguchi was proud that Tsukishima was thinking about this so much.

Because that meant that Kuroo was someone that Tsukishima took seriously despite the way that the other student acted and looked. It meant that Tsukishima was no longer just the same person that Yamaguchi was best friends with.

“Kuroo’s different than everyone else. He pushed me to become a better blocker after you got me to the point where I needed to be for the team. He doesn't take any of my words seriously even though I mean most of them,” Tsukishima chuckled. “I don't know why, but he’s interesting to me. I don't want to get close to him. I don't think I should, but I already can imagine what you’d say if I never talked to him again, because ‘You need more friends Tsukki.’ ‘He’s teaching you Tsukki.’”

Yamaguchi laughed at the mocking tone that Tsukishima had to make fun of him. He could see a small smile on Tsukishima’s lips as he had been talking about the captain.

“I don’t know what it is about Kuroo, honestly,” Tsukishima continued, shrugging his shoulders. “But I know that he’s made me a better person, and a better player. And if you hadn’t called me lame then none of this would have happened.”

Yamaguchi smiled at his friend's words and clapped his hands together.

“That's all I wanted to know, Tsukki,” he smiled. “I saw the way that you acted with him. And I knew that he would be someone good for you in the long run. And I know you’ve been talking to him more since the last time you saw him.”

“Shut up, Yamaguchi.”

They went back to studying after that conversation. They exchanged notes and made sure that they were ready for any tests that would happen at school. Akiteru came in and asked if they wanted to toss a ball around the backyard, and even though Tsukki rolled his eyes, they barely heard a real complaint come out of him.

As he walked home, Yamaguchi thought about how much his best friend had grown.

Tsukishima Kei. His birthday was September 27, he was 6’2”, he liked dinosaurs and strawberry shortcake. He played as a middle blocker on the Karasuno High School volleyball team.

He was trying to become friends with more people rather than letting Yamaguchi be his one friend. He was actually putting effort into volleyball, more effort than he had since they had started high school. He had smiled when he had talked about Nekoma’s captain, Kuroo Tetsuro. His eyes had shown when he has spoke about Kuroo Tetsuro.

\-------

Turning down the volume on his computer speakers, lowering the volume on the already quiet song, Tsukishima swiped the answer button on his phone.

“It’s almost 1 in the morning what do you want?” He asked as soon as he answered, his voice hoarse with sleep.

“Aw Tsukki,” Kuroo whispered. “You woke up for me.”

Tsukishima rolled his eyes.

“Technically, I was just about to fall asleep so I did not wake up for you.” He heard Kuroo let out a quiet chuckle. “Why are you awake though?”

They had barely talked that day, and even though Kuroo was calling him in the middle of the night, Kei still wanted to know why. He still wanted a reason as to why Kuroo was calling and making his heart flutter like this.

And Yamaguchi’s questions from earlier in the day made his stomach tighten when he answered the phone call.

Because when Yamaguchi asked him why Kuroo was different to him, it made him realize that there _was_ something different about how he felt about Kuroo Tetsuro than his best friend.

A reason that he had been trying to ignore since he started the late night phone calls with the older student.

“I had a test I needed to study for, and then Bokuto wanted me to play a few games with him and I finally got him to go to bed,” Kuroo said, a fond smile heard through his voice. “And I was about to fall asleep when I realized that I barely got the chance to talk to you today. My day wouldn't be complete if I wasn't able to have an actual conversation with you, Tsukki.”

Tsukishima was glad that no one else was in his room with him, and that the lights were off, because as soon as Kuroo said that he could feel his face heat up with a blush.

“You should sleep, Kuroo,” Tsukishima said quietly. “We can talk tomorrow.”

“But Tsukki, I want to talk to you before I fall asleep,” Kuroo replied.

Tsukishima buried his face into his pillow.

“Fine,” Tsukishima said. “How was your day?”

And from there they talked about their day: Tsukishima's classes, Kuroo’s time making sure Lev was practicing with Yaku, how Kageyama and Hinata tried to get him to practice with them for hours and that was why they always needed help with classes (at this, Kuroo laughed quietly and told him that he would still tutor the two), and Kuroo talked about Kenma’s new game that had almost made the other student miss practice to play it.

“I found him halfway down the street by the time practice was supposed to start,” Kuroo said and then yawned, cutting off Tsukishima’s laugh. He looked at the clock that sat on his desk and realized that their conversation had lasted an hour.

“Kuroo, it’s 2 in the morning,” Tsukishima whispered. The other student was quiet for a moment and Tsukishima took that moment to listen to the way that Kuroo breathed and to think about how lucky he was because Kuroo chose to spend an hour talking to him about nothing and everything.

The conversation with Yamaguchi was starting to really get to him. Getting to him in the way that made his heart beat faster, but he might of just noticed that his pulse was always racing when he finally got the chance to talk to Kuroo. It made him realize that Kuroo’s laugh made his stomach flip and that every conversation they had made him feel more and more comfortable.

If he was going to be honest with himself, Tsukishima had a _crush_ on Kuroo Tetsuro.

“I guess you’re right,” Kuroo replied and yawned again. “I’ll talk to you tomorrow-”

“Later today.”

“I’ll talk to you later today, Tsukki,” Kuroo laughed again and Tsukishima felt something build up inside of him. He let out a breath.

“Before you go I want to tell you something,” Tsukishima breathed out. He waited for Kuroo to reply.

“Sure but don’t think i'm not going to tease you about this since you told me to go to sleep first,” Kuroo said, his voice sounding like the other student was almost asleep.

Tsukishima took in one final breath and said the one thing that had been building up inside him since he had spoken to Tadashi earlier in the day.

“I-I like you,” Tsukishima quickly said. “That's it. I’ll talk to you later today. Good night, Kuroo.”

And with that, Tsukishima ended the call.

\-------

Fun fact about Tsukishima Kei: He had a crush on Kuroo Tetsuro and did not want the other to know.

But obviously, by the end of the phone call, he wanted the other to know. There was absolutely no way that he would be able to take it back now. Not after actually saying it loud. He couldn't even say that he didn't mean to let it slip out because he said he _needed_ to tell Kurro that. He had acknowledged what he had been about to do out loud.

What kind of fool was he? What kind of person confesses and then hangs up, leaving the confession out there?

After a few moments though, Tsukishima realized that he felt lighter now. It was strange. Yamaguchi had been the one that had helped him realize the feelings he had for the captain, and he had accepted that there was a very slim chance that Kuroo would feel the same way about him.

But he still let it slip into the end of their long conversation because he had felt like if he hadn't said it then, then he would never say it at all. And it wasn't actually planned that he would let the confession slip out.

It would of been easier to say that he didn't have any feelings for the other, easier to just say that there was nothing between them. It would of been easier to lie to himself every time he talked to Kuroo and say that he was fine just being able to be friends with him.

The thing was, he didn't want his feelings to be left unsaid. He didn't want to keep it buried and hidden. There was nothing wrong with being in love with Kuroo Tetsuro. (His team would say something about how he was in love with their long term rivals, but that didn't really matter because they weren't going to be on high school volleyball teams for the rest of their lives.)

And maybe it would just be his first crush and it wouldn't last and he would grow up and barely talk to Kuroo Tetsuro and be deeply in love with someone else. Someone without crazy black hair and golden eyes.

But he knew that no one would ever take the breath out of his lungs the way that Kuroo Tetsuro was able to with just his laugh.

And he was okay keeping that feeling in his chest for now. He was okay with letting it be out there, was okay with saying it out loud. He was okay with letting Kuroo know.

Tsukishima was okay with letting his feelings be known.

\-----

His phone had been going off for ten minutes now. Kei knew that all of the messages were from Kuroo asking about what he meant. Or it was him telling him that he didn't feel the same, or that Kei was younger than he and didn't understand what it meant to be in love, what it meant to be in love with someone that was older than he was.

Tsukishima ignored it for another five minutes.

In those five minutes, he knew that Kuroo called him more than once, and kept texting him.

It was 2 in the morning and he had practice later in the morning.

It was 2 in the morning and he was in love with Kuroo Tetsuro, who was still calling him.

It was 2 in the morning and Tsukishima Kei prepared himself for the rejection that he was ultimately going to be faced him.

Finally, he picked up the phone that was still vibrating and answered it.

\----

Kuroo Tetsuro was freaking out. Freaking out because he had heard Tsukishima's quiet “I like you” before he hung up. He had heard him and his heart had not been calm for the past 20 minutes.

Kuroo Tetsuro was freaking out because Tsukishima Kei would not answer his phone calls and he needed him to.

The confession had been completely out of the blue, and Kuroo hadn't expected it to come from Tsukishima himself. He had always thought that he would be the one telling the blonde how he felt when they talked.

He would tell him how Tsukishima made his heart race every time he laughed, how he felt more alive when they talked late into the night, or early morning. He would tell him how every time that Karasuno was mentioned, he grew nervous at being able to see the blonde.

Of course, he had known that there was a chance that Tsukishima might not of felt the same way. And not telling him how he felt had been slowly killing him.

He was always talking to the blonde. Always. In between classes, before and after practice, on his way home if he wasn't walking with Kenma. And even then he was texting Tsukishima about anything and everything.

Kuroo Tetsuro had been in love with the blonde since he met him. He had tried not to like Tsukishima. Had tried to meet other people and see if any of them could make him feel the way he did about the younger boy. Tried to see if anyone made him try to rile them up the way that Tsukishima did. But none of them did.

None of them could replace the feeling that had manifested in Kuroo’s chest and made a permanent home for itself in his heart.

It was easy to fall in love with Tsukishima Kei even though Tsukishima tried to make it hard to fall for him.

He wasn't nice. No, far from it. But Kuroo was the same. He wasn't called the provocation master for no reason. He was called that because he wanted to get under people’s skin, wanted them to get riled up and mess up during a match.

Tsukishima tried to distance himself from Kuroo when they first met. He had tried to walk out on the late night practice that Bokuto and Akaashi had also been a part of. He hadn't easily given Kuroo any of his contact information when Kuroo had asked for it.

But then came the long night conversations about the music that Tsukishima told him he loved, and texting him stupid jokes all day long and lighting that fire that he knew Tsukishima needed lit to fight with everything he had in volleyball.

And Tsukishima was beautiful. Beautiful in a cold way, with the way that he would have a glare on his face about almost everything. Beautiful in a warm way, his quiet laugh immediately melting his heart in a way that made every thought about Tsukishima feel right.

To Kuroo, everything about Tsukishima Kei was beautiful and he could go on for hours about the different ways that the blonde was beautiful.

But he didn't have hours, because it had been 20 minutes and the blonde still wasn't answering his phone.

It was almost 3 in the morning and they both had practice early and they both had classes and then practice again and Tsukishima was not answering his phone and Kuroo almost gave up.

 _One last time._ He thought, _one last time and then I’ll call him tomorrow when I know he isn't busy and make sure he said what I think he said and-_

“Tsukishima Kei speaking,” Kuroo heard.

Every word that he had been about to say, that he had been thinking about saying for months, left him in a rush. He was only able bask in the knowledge that Tsukki answered the phone finally.

And of course only Kei would make it seem like he was unaffected by the fact that he had confessed not twenty minutes ago to Kuroo.

“Um...Kuroo? Are you still there?” Kuroo heard.

Everything rushed back to him all at once.

“I like you too,” Kuroo blurted out. There was a small disgruntled noise audible from Tsukishima’s end. Not waiting for Tsukishima to say something like “you don't have to say that just because I said that,” Kuroo let everything that he had been thinking about flow out.

“I’m not just saying this because you said it to me first,” Kuroo started. “I’m saying it because I think that you are one of the most beautiful people that I have ever met. Tsukishima, please just-just listen to me for a second.”

“Okay,” Tsukishima whispered so softly that Kuroo almost didn’t hear him. “Okay I’ll listen.”

“I honestly had this big elaborate plan on how I was going to tell you how much I like you. I was going to bring you flowers and take you out on some fancy date and it was going to be almost as amazing as you are, Tsukki,” Kuroo let out a nervous chuckle. “Listen, I really like you. I’ve never liked someone as much as I like you. There’s no one that I want to like the way that I like you.”

\----

Tsukishima laid in bed, his phone pressed to his ear, listening to every word that Kuroo said over the phone.

“I don't know when exactly I realized it,” Kuroo said, “but I think it was one of the nights after practice, after Bokuto and Akaashi left and it was just us, and we were walking back to our team room. You were talking about something. Honestly I can’t remember for the life of me what exactly it was. But you looked beautiful.

“And you looked at me with one of those rare smiles and I almost stopped breathing because that was when I realized that I had the world’s biggest crush on you. There were so many times I almost told you Tsukki, but I couldn't find the right time. But now’s better than never I guess.”

Tsukishima listened to him take in a deep long breath, and felt himself do the same thing. It was like something from a dream for him. Kuroo liked him. Kuroo remembered the moment he realized that.

It was easy to say that they were both head over heels for eachother. But there were so many things that neither of them wanted to say out loud.

How were they going to make it work when one lived in Tokyo and the other lived in Miyagi? How were they going to make it work when Tsukishima still had two years of high school left and Kuroo was almost done with his last one and so close to going to university? How were they going to make it work when Kuroo realized that Tsukishima wasn't a good enough person to date and fall in love with someone else?

“I can almost hear you over thinking almost everything right now, Tsukki,” Kuroo said after a minute of silence. “And I know you're thinking about how everything will work out because that's all I’m thinking about too.”

“I-I’m just, how are we going to do this?” Kei said into the phone, his hand squeezing it tight, his other tugging at the hem of his shirt nervously. “How are we going to do this if we’re barely able to see each other for months?”

“Oh hoho, so there’s a we now? We only just confessed to each other Tsukki,” Tsukishima heard the grin that he knew was on Kuroo’s face. “I don't remember you asking me to date you after you confessed.”

“Why do I have to ask you? You're older than me so you should be asking me.”

“Ah but you see Tsukki, you confessed first so you have the responsibility to ask me out.”

Tsukishima pulled the phone away from his ear after he heard Kuroo start to laugh and hung up.

**Author's Note:**

> Anyways, super back, super tired, super ready to share the rest of the story! Dont forget to leave a comment, drop a kudo. And just I hope you enjoyed the story as much as I enjoyed writing it! [Here’s my twitter](https://twitter.com/milesofworry) [and tumblr](http://miles-of-worry.tumblr.com/) [ and my ko-fi if you feel like supporting me!](http://ko-fi.com/milesofworry) Thanks so much for reading.


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